Okay, so back to writing. Again this is oddly fun. And I just hope you'll all enjoy this chapter as well.
The Wolf: Glad you find it unique. And truth be told, I would love to remember what I was doing when I came up with the idea.
Chapter 4:
Ruby wasn't sure what had been feeling different for the last month. She had assumed she was coming down with something at first, but it only seemed to only happen when she was in her current predicament.
Pyrrha was asleep next to her. Her steady breathing, it would normally let her lull into a light sleep. But it just couldn't now. And it just wasn't with Pyrrha. It was with everyone. Emerald, Blake, Melanie and Miltidais. She had no idea what it was.
She knew it wasn't a cold, because it only seemed to hit her at that moment when her partner fell asleep. 'I should probably go. It may just be the venue. I can always sleep better in my own room.'
She quickly moved the blanket and sat up. The sleeping form next to her was only light by the moonlight coming in through the window. She stood up and began to pull on her pants as Pyrrha began to wake up.
"You're not even going to wait until the morning anymore?" Ruby could detect the distinct level of hurt in her voice. Ruby wasn't sure anymore if the hurt was from her leaving early, or waking her, or what else. She just knew that was the reaction from everyone. Maybe not the same words, but a distinct level of hurt.
"I just need some fresh air. I'll see you later." Ruby's voice was unlike the other redhead's. Her's was devoid of all emotion. Pyrrha wasn't sure what hurt more, the fact she was leaving after they just had sex, or the fact she was expecting her to just put it all behind her.
It was easier, to do when she would wait at least until sunrise. That way she could feel like they did something that could resemble a normal relationship. But now, she felt like she was nothing more than something Ruby could use and just forget it ever happened.
Ruby grabbed her shoes and walked out. The chill in the air was relaxing. It was just what she needed for her to do what had become the ritual. Trying to figure out what was wrong with her. It was simply so she wouldn't hurt her friends more than what she already had. It was the least she could do. She was the one causing the hurt, she should be the one to solve it.
She hadn't even realise how deep in thought she was until she was putting her key into her front door. 'how out of it was I?' she thought as she opened the door, to see the glowing red neon numbers on the clock on her wall.
'I left Pyrrha's place two hours ago. It is only a half an hour walk?' Ruby was pulled from her thoughts as she heard some light shuffling and the bathroom door opening up.
"How was Pyrrha's?" Neo asked just rubbing her eyes. Ruby could tell that she wanted to go back to bed, but wanted to be polite. But what confused Ruby was to her it felt like she got caught sticking her hand in the cookie jar. She was loathing the feeling. And it happened every time Neo asked about how her time with the other people went.
"I don't want to talk about it Neo." Ruby muttered as she closed her door. She needed to think and she could only ever do that when she was alone. So if she had to come off as bitch to Neo to get that time she would feel bad but she would find a way to make it up to her.
"Okay... I was just trying to be nice," Neo muttered near silent as she walked back into her room. She even had trouble hearing it. 'Was it something I've said...? No it can't be. She has been like this for a while. Maybe I am overstaying my welcome. I should ask Emerald if I can stay at her place for a few days.' Neo thought as she crawled into her bed.
Ruby woke up feeling slightly drained. Normally she was up five minutes before her alarm and feeling just fine. But her alarm was what woke her and she felt as if she had just fallen asleep. She quickly flicked her alarm off.
'The fuck is wrong with me? I've never once slept all the way to my alarm. Not even when I'm sick.' She thought as she heard a faint knock at her door.
"I'll be up in a few minutes Neo!" Ruby yelled, hearing a faint 'okay' followed by near silent footfalls going towards the living room. She already knew she was going to need to apologise for earlier in that morning where she may have snapped at Neo a bit harsher than what she intended. But that just made the list of what she had to apologise even longer.
'I just hope she isn't angry. If she is, which would be totally understandable, but it would make me apologising even harder.' Ruby moved her blanket to the side and rolled out of her bed. Not caring that she landed on the floor slightly harder than she intended.
As she stood up she stared at her reflection in the mirror. Something about seeing herself made her feel slightly better. There was nothing wrong with her physically. So the odds of her being sick were reduced. But it just constantly reminded her that she also shouldn't be feeling the way she does when she is with someone else in the bedroom.
The feeling that she was sleazy. Almost guilty. But the guilt only surfaced when she saw Neo's face. She had no idea why. But she just felt dirty while doing it and after. 'Come. Can't let my feelings show like this. Because the barrage of questions I will get about if I'm feeling alright.' She continued to think as she walked out of her room, she needed some coffee and needed to actually say she was sorry about what happened when she came home.
As she walked into the living room, she saw Neo just sitting with her knees flush to her chest, one arm wrapped around them while the other held the remote flicking through the channels. Looking somewhat defeated. Almost like she wanted to cry.
"Neo, I'm sorry for snapping at you so much. I just haven't been sleeping too well. I need a decent night's sleep. But that doesn't excuse the fact I've been a terrible person and I need to beg you for your forgiveness." Ruby's voice was near silent, like what was Neo's normal voice.
"You don't need to apologise. I've just clearly overstayed my welcome. I'll be at Em's house until I can get my own place. It shouldn't be much longer anyway." Neo responded as Ruby took a seat.
"You staying here has nothing to do with me being moody. I may not know what is causing me to be this way but I know that isn't the reason. Trust me." Ruby would be damned if she was the reason Neo felt like she had move. She enjoyed Neo's company.
Neo just continued to look at the TV. It wasn't that she didn't trust Ruby. She just didn't want Ruby to turn angry like what happened with her parents.
"Come on Neo, let's go get some breakfast. My treat, as a way to say sorry again." Ruby jumped up. Neo was about to refuse until her stomach growling answered for her. She didn't even have time to refute as Ruby pulled her up.
"Come on Neo. I just need to quickly get changed. And we can have a normal conversation. You know one that doesn't involve me being a bitch, or us talking about work. It has been a month and I hardly know anything about you."
Neo liked it that way. She didn't want people to think less of her. "Okay." She muttered. Dreading the possibility that Ruby may find out what she didn't want known.
They had just placed their orders as they sat in the tattered red booths of the local diner. Ruby knew the greasy food would take years off her life but was just fine to pay that price, it was like the ultimate comfort food to her.
"So Neo, I suppose I should have asked this a lot sooner, but why turn to stripping. You seem like a very smart girl." Ruby asked. It didn't click that she had never asked. She knew everyone had their reasons. From Blake using her money to pay her way through college. To Emerald wanting to pay off her parents debt. To Pyrrha's ultimate form of rebellion. But Ruby had no idea on Neo.
She was interested why someone who was so intelligent would give it all up to become a stripper. "I need money, and I heard Junior was hiring. I figured with my background in gymnastics it would be easy money. How wrong was I?" She joked as two plates were placed in front of them.
"What about you?" She asked as she began to eat the pancakes that was placed in front of her.
"Well, some what similar reasons. Needed money. I have no other things to fall back on like you clearly do." Ruby began as she followed Neo's example and began to eat her breakfast. "Say, you mind if I take some of that maple syrup?" Ruby asked as the cheese began to ooze out of her omelette.
"No. Take it all if you want. My parents never let me have syrup. So I never use it." She muttered as Ruby dropped her fork in near disgust at the simple fact someone would do that to anyone.
"You need to try it though. It makes already delicious pancakes taste even better. Hell it makes any breakfast food taste better." Ruby started to flail her arms to emphasise her point. She would be damned if someone went through their entire life without having had syrup on their disks of fluffy light breakfast dough. "Neo. You must have at least one of those with syrup. Or I swear I will mix it into your ice cream that you like to think is hidden from me." Ruby's flailing began to die down as Neo poured a small amount onto the side of her plate.
She ran the piece that was already on her fork through the sticky mess. As she took a tentative bite she smiled at how delicious it tasted. 'Have I been missing out on this much? What else have I been missing out on? This is so good.' Neo thought as she grabbed the bottle and began to cover her pancakes in a layer of the golden brown liquid.
"Told you. It is like crack for people with a sweet tooth." Ruby smirked as Neo smiled as she ate faster. She wanted to make up for lost time. "Calm down, or you will get sick." Ruby tempted to slow down shorter girl and failing.
Pyrrha stood behind the bar trying desperately to put any and all of Ruby's actions behind her. Just so she could get through the shift. But she also wanted to know if Ruby only seemed to react this way if it was her.
Hence why she gathered everyone who she knew was part of Ruby's little agreement. Even though they were all aware of each other it still shocked them each that they had the same sex partner between them.
"So is it just me or has Ruby been different? Like in the last month. Give or take a few weeks." Pyrrha asked as they all looked at her.
"I thought I was just going insane!" Emerald yelled as Blake covered her mouth. With one hand as the other one started to rub the ear that was closest to the green haired woman.
"Emerald's yelling aside, same. Once I just stayed awake to see if she actually sleeps, but she just stays awake, and then left after an hour." Blake spoke taking her other hand back just as Emerald was about to smack her hand away.
The trio turned to the twins who just nodded in agreement. "So it clearly is one of two options. Either it is someone here royally pissing her off, or something is eating her away and we aren't helping. I personally don't like either option." They all could agree on just that. Both options were less than favourable.
"How do we find out which it is?" Mel asked. She already knew which option she wanted It to be, if it had to be one of them. She would much rather someone be the cause of it than if Ruby was causing it to herself.
"Easy, we can either stop having sex with her, ask Neo, or we confront her. The last two in my opinion would work best together. But at this point we need to come up with a consensus, because if we break off to do our own thing, she will ignore it."
"Good, Point Pyrrha. I think I speak for everyone when I say the best choice is to do all of the above. Not have sex we her until we sort it out, and ask both Neo and Ruby. Just ask Neo first, because if it is Ruby doing it to herself, she'll not only know, but she'll help us." Emerald spoke definite in her response.
"Okay, we'll talk to Neo once they come in. Which shouldn't be much longer." Blake stated standing up so the twins could walk behind the bar to be on the same side as Pyrrha.
Author's Note:
Okay this was meant to go up sometime earlier yesterday. But I started to drink... and well long story short, I ended up getting drunk and it was fun. I hope you all like the chapter.